Dodgers can't hide their flaws in loss to Phillies

LOS ANGELES – The Arizona Diamondbacks are the new black – they hide a lot of the Dodgers’ flaws.

When not razing Arizona, though, the Dodgers have looked like a mediocre team with a balky offense, a shaky defense and a bullpen that is having trouble living up to its paychecks.

There was no hiding any of those flaws Thursday night. Adrian Gonzalez misplayed a ground ball, opening the door to three runs in the fifth inning, and Brian Wilson flopped in a four-run ninth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies handed the Dodgers a 7-3 defeat and took three of four in the series at Dodger Stadium.

“We could have easily won all four,” Gonzalez said. “We know we have a team that can beat anybody out there – but not if we don’t play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

The Dodgers might be capable of beating “anybody out there” but they’ve specialized in beating up on the Diamondbacks this season. The Dodgers are 7-1 against their Australia-traveling partners and averaged 5.75 runs per game against them. But they are 6-9 against everyone else, averaging just 3.0 runs per game against everyone else.

“Offensively, I think we’ll hit our stride,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “This is a lot like the games last year. We didn’t ever really go out and throw a bunch of runs up there. We have to continue to grind and get better. We’ve hit some home runs but we haven’t consistently put a lot of runs up.”

Their runs Thursday all came on home runs – a two-run shot by Juan Uribe in the fourth inning and a long solo home run by Gonzalez that tied the game in the seventh.

That only partially made up for the damage done by his error in the fifth. It was the Dodgers’ 23rd error of the season, the second-highest total in the majors.

With runners on first and third and one out, Dodgers starter Dan Haren got Chase Utley to bounce a ground ball to Gonzalez’s right. He went to field it but checked on the runner headed home as he did.

“When I realized we couldn’t get two, I thought we might have a play at the plate,” Gonzalez said. “I took my eyes off it for a second and when I tried to get my eyes back on the ball, it was already on me.”

The game went to the ninth tied 3-3. Concerned about Kenley Jansen’s early-season workload, the Dodgers had already decided he was unavailable and Mattingly went with Wilson in the ninth.

Wilson has yet to be the reliable reliever this year that he was in a short cameo after returning from Tommy John surgery last season. He retired just one of the six Phillies he faced Thursday, allowing a two-run double to Carlos Ruiz and raising renewed questions about the health of Wilson’s elbow even after a two-week stint on the DL with nerve irritation.

“Yeah, I feel he’s healthy,” Mattingly said after a lengthy pause. “Obviously, I don’t think he’s where he wants to be. We see some throws, location-wise – this is a guy who rarely misses a spot at all. So I don’t think he’s where he wants to be at this point.

“It would only raise a red flag if there was an issue going on. … I haven’t heard anything about that.”

But Mattingly did admit he will consider moving Wilson to a less prominent role in the bullpen hierarchy if he needs to work on things.

“I don’t think we have to make any huge decisions on that tonight,” he said.